Simon Thibodeau was named the women’s tennis head coach
for UC Santa Barbara June 12, 2012. Thibodeau came to the Gauchos
after heading the women’s tennis program at Fresno State for
nine years where he accumulated six Western Athletic Conference
Coach of the Year awards.

“I had a great journey at Fresno State, but I
couldn’t pass up such a great opportunity,” Thibodeau
said. “This is a dream job for me. To coach in a
place as beautiful as Santa Barbara and in a system with academics
as great as the UC system, is perfect. I want to thank Mark
(Massari) and UCSB for this tremendous opportunity.”

Thibodeau has already gained seven WAC titles; nine
All-Americans; seven individual national title appearances for
players under his supervision; five appearances in the Round of 16
in the NCAA tournament; the highest year-end ranking in program
history and a winning percentage of .750.

While at Fresno State, Thibodeau helped the Bulldogs accumulate
a record of 159-80. His teams finished five seasons ranked among
the nation’s top-20, including an all-time high of 13th in
2004. In 2009, Fresno State won a school record 24 matches
and finished the season ranked 16th in the
nation. In all, Thibodeau’s teams won 20 or more dual
matches on five occasions.

He also brought individual attention to his players in his
nine seasons at Fresno State. Melanie Gloria gained four
consecutive WAC Player of the Year awards and a career high
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranking of No. 2 in the
nation. Overall, his teams produced seven WAC Players of the Year,
one ITA National Rookie of the Year, five WAC Freshmen of the Year
and nine All-Americans. Nationally, his players have regularly
finished ranked in the nation’s top-100 and as high as No. 4
in singles and No. 1 in doubles.

Thibodeau has coached numerous players into the NCAA Individual
Championships and in 2004 one of his players, Jelena Pandzic,
reached the title match. In 2005, the Bulldogs’ tandem
of Lucia Sainz and Katarina Winterhalter reached the championship
match in the All-American doubles competition and in 2006 they
reached the NCAA doubles final. In 2006, Melanie Gloria appeared in
the All-American singles championship as well as the Indoor
Semifinals. Gloria paired with Tinesta Rowe reaching the NCAA
doubles championship in 2008. That same year, Anastasia Petukhova
and Renata Kucerkova reached the NCAA doubles semifinals, the
All-American final, and won the ITA Indoor doubles championship. In
2009 the doubles duo ended the season ranked No. 1 in the ITA
doubles rankings and Petukhova won the All-American singles
consolation.

Thibodeau’s Fresno State teams not only excelled on the
court, but in the classroom as well. The Bulldogs earned ITA
All-Academic Team honors five times, achieving a collective grade
point average over 3.20. In 2009, the team achieved a
cumulative 3.60 GPA, had five players named to the Academic All-WAC
team and one to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District and
All-American teams.

Before becoming a bulldog, Thibodeau was the assistant coach for
the University of Arizona women’s team for three years,
helping to steer the Wildcats into the ITA top-25.

Thibodeau, originally from Repentigny, Quebec, graduated from
the University of Sherbrooke in 1997, where he received his
bachelor’s in specialized sports science. There he worked
under the Canadian Tennis Federation as a national coach for
Canadian junior players, where he traveled around the world gaining
an abundance of knowledge on the junior circuit. He supervised
national training camps, coached members of the national junior
team and assisted with the Canadian Federation Cup team.

In his first full season here at UC Santa Barbara, Thibodeau
helped steer an impressive 15-9 record. The squad performed well in
conference play, posting a 5-4 record in Big West conference
action. Guiding the team to the Big West tournament, Thibodeau and
his squad fell just short with a semifinal loss to eventual
champion, Long Beach St. Making his mark in the conference,
Thibodeau had players Kiersten Meehan and April Scatliffe honored
with season awards from the Big West.

Fulfilling his second season as head coach for Santa Barbara,
Thibodeau and his young team fought for an 8-16 season record.
Playing top compeition like UCLA, Washington, Washington St.,
Columbia and Kansas St., the Gauchos faced premier programs for
portions of the season. Recording an even 4-4 conference record,
the Gauchos once again qualified for the season's Big West
tournament. Much like the previous year, UCSB fell in a semifinal
match to Long Beach St.